Norwest Venture Partners, a 65-year-old firm backed solely by Wells Fargo, has raised its 17th fund at $3 billion. Thats a noteworthy number, given that NVP last raised the same amount in December 2021. That was the peak of the venture boom, and at that time, the firm said it increased its capital pool by [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Space and defense startup True Anomaly has laid off around 25% of its workforce and cancelled its summer internship program, TechCrunch has learned. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As part of its Q1 2024 earning release, Snap revealed that total watch time on its TikTok competitor, Spotlight, increased more than 125% year-over-year. Snapchat launched the TikTok-like feed in late 2020 as a way to compete with the rising popularity of TikTok. The company is touting the success of its short-from video feed a [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Google Cloud had a blockbuster quarter, driving parent company Alphabet's revenues ??? and stock price ??? to impressive highs. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

This share price gives Rubrik a fully diluted valuation of $6.6 billion, up 88% from its last primary valuation of $3.5 billion in 2019. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Metas move into the open social web, also known as the fediverse, is puzzling. Does the Facebook owner see open protocols as the future? Will it embrace the fediverse only to shut it down, shifting people back to its proprietary platforms and decimating startups building in the space? Will it bring its advertising empire to [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Kaiser, one of the largest healthcare organizations in the United States, said it was notifying 13.4 million members of a data breach earlier in April. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Sanctuary AI often isn???t mentioned in the same breath as humanoid robotics firms like Boston Dynamics, Agility, Figure and 1X, but the Canadian company has been operating in the space for some time. In fact, a new robot introduced on Thursday is actually the seventh-generation of its Phoenix line. While a recent iteration introduced legs [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The contract is part of a larger push from the Force to procure space capabilities from private industry on timelines that have been previously unheard of. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As a TikTok ban gets closer to becoming a reality in the United States, it might be time to start thinking about other platforms to adopt early in case you need to fill the void left by the popular app at some point in the future. On Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill that would [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Hurry up! Our Call for Content ends tomorrow, April 26 at 11:59 p.m. PT. If you???re a startup expert eager to lead a session at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 28-30, now???s the time to apply! Submit your proposal to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 before the deadline. Your topic should empower startup founders, builders, and [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Social media platform TikTok says that a bill banning the app in the U.S. is unconstitutional and that it will fight this latest attempt to restrict its use in court. The bill in question, which President Joe Biden signed Wednesday, gives Chinese parent company ByteDance nine months to divest TikTok or face a ban on [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

President Joe Biden signed the bill this week that could ban TikTok from the U.S. if its parent company ByteDance doesn???t sell the platform. According to young political content creators, the ban could decimate Gen Z???s access to political news and information. ???An unfortunately large amount of 18- to 24-year-olds find out information about local [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

This restores, with some changes and protections, the rules passed back in 2015 allowing the FCC to enforce basic rules of connectivity and fairness in broadband. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

SkyBridge was among the recipients of a small distribution of $4,800 in grant funding from Bluesky, distributed across projects. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The company announced that it would start to let customers accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Fintoc's API lets online businesses accept instant payments coming directly from the customer's bank account. This method, known as A2A, offers an alternative to credit card transactions. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The company produces plant-based ingredients from raw microalgae biomass, generated from spirulina or chlorella, that it claims is more nutritious than meat. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Swiggy plans to raise $1.25 billion in an initial public offering and has secured approval from its shareholders, the Indian food delivery and instant commerce startup disclosed in a filing to the local regulator. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which competes with publicly-listed Zomato and StepStone Group-backed unicorn Zepto, plans to raise $450 million through issuance of [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Anduril Industries has taken another step forward in its quest to become the next great American prime, this time by beating out major defense companies to develop and test small unmanned fighter jet prototypes. The venture capital darling beat out Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman on the deal, under the Air Force???s Collaborative Combat [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

With HashiCorp, Big Blue gets a set of cloud lifecycle management and security tools, and a company that is growing considerably faster than any of IBM???s other businesses. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

If there???s one overarching takeaway from last night???s Rabbit R1 launch event, it???s this: Hardware can be fun again. After a decade of unquestioned smartphone dominance, there is, once again, excitement to be found in consumer electronics. The wisdom and longevity of any individual product or form factor ??? while important ??? can be set [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

JioCinema introduced new monthly subscription plan on Thursday, with the lowest tier costing just 35 cents. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Augment, a startup developing an AI-powered platform similar to GitHub's Copilot, has launched out of stealth valued at nearly $1 billion. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

TikTok faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. once again. A bill including a deadline for TikTok parent company Bytedance to divest within nine months or face a ban on app stores to distribute the app in the U.S., was signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday as part of broader legislation including military aid [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Though many eyes are on space as orbit develops into a thriving business ecosystem, Radical is keeping things a little closer to the ground ??? but not too close. Its high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft aim to succeed where Facebooks infamous Aquila failed by refining the tech and embracing more markets. Its hard to believe that Facebooks [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Stripe continues to hold the title of being the biggest financial technology business still in private hands, with a current valuation of about $65 billion and??a whopping $1 trillion in total processed payment volume last year alone. But fintech is fragmented and a fast-moving target, and with competitors chipping away at its place, Stripe is [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Enterprises still don't trust OpenAI, while open source AI models are chea

WhatsApp is introducing support for passkey verification on iOS, removing the need for users to deal with SMS two-factor authentication. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

President Biden has signed a bill that would ban TikTok if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, fails to sell it within a year. The bill, which includes aid for Ukraine and Israel, was passed by the U.S. Senate in a 79-18 vote late Tuesday after the House passed it with overwhelming majority over the weekend. [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The company is launching a new unified media player, along with instant comment loading and a direct shortcut to conversations. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Eniac has raised $60 million for Select 1, the firm???s vehicle for follow-on later-stage investments, and $160 million for Eniac VI. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Stainless, a startup building a platform to generate SDKs from APIs, has raised a seed round of funding from Sequoia. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Sanlo, a fintech startup that helps gaming companies manage finances, announced Wednesday the closed beta launch of its webshop tool, giving select game developers and studios a plug-and-play solution that works alongside their existing tech stacks. Gaming companies can sign up for a demo starting today. With Google and Apple charging a 30% fee for [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As the notion of the AI agent begins to take ho

Nvidia is acquiring Run:ai, a Tel Aviv-based company that makes it easier for developers and operations teams to manage and optimize their AI hardware infrastructure. Terms of the deal arent being disclosed publicly, but two sources close to the matter tell TechCrunch that the price tag was $700 million. CTech reported earlier this morning the [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

With the current iteration of its product going through its paces with a handful of beta customers, FlexAI will launch its first commercial product later this year. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Glance, which operates a popular lockscreen platform targeting Android smartphones, is setting its sights on the U.S. market. The Indian startup recently commenced a pilot program in partnership with Motorola and Verizon in the U.S., with plans for a full launch in the country later this year, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The bill gives Bytedance nine months to force a sale with a 90-day extension, which is effectively a year to complete the deal. ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The Mercedes-Benz G-Class the rugged off-road powerhouse that launched in 1979 and has since become a brutalist status symbol has gone electric. This is, in many ways, Mercedes most prestigious car, a model more prized for its presence and exclusivity than its power and capability. Going electric, then, is more than an historic [] ?? 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.